In the trend-driven world of restaurants, sliders seem soooo five years ago.

But maybe that’s because most of those tiny burgers were just too tiny to top with anything interesting, and the thin meat patties tended to dry out.

B-52 Slider Squad, the food-truck version of B-52 Burgers and Brew in Inver Grove Heights, is trying to revamp the slider’s image with a perfect-for-lunch quarter-pound burger with carefully edited toppings. And the strategy is working.

The Bavarian Burger ($6) includes one of those patties, with decent char and a slight bit of pink in the middle, topped with raw onion and sharp German mustard and served on a soft pretzel roll. It’s simple and satisfying.

We also liked the not-necessarily-health-food Veggie Burger ($8), made from chewy quinoa, black beans and veggies. It’s deep-fried, which seems contradictory but gives the burger a fantastic crust while keeping the insides creamy and light.

However, the fries that come with both burgers, though a generous portion, are clearly formerly frozen, still limp and not nearly salty enough.

More appealing are the corn fritters ($6), crispy little balls of corn bread with a few sweet kernels of corn sprinkled throughout. And they’re even better when dipped in a slightly spicy chipotle dip.

Jess Fleming has been with the Pioneer Press since 1999, and has been covering the Eat beat since 2012. She is an adventurous eater, cook and gardener, but will only grow something she can eat. She is a graduate of the journalism school at the University of Minnesota and a native of Eastern Wisconsin, where she grew up eating good brats, good cheese and fresh vegetables from her dad’s garden.

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